My Teeth Itch

I'm going a little bit crazy these days. I need some sort of project I can sink my teeth into. (Does that make me as mordacious as my son?) I'd really like to do more work with my real estate business but seeing as how I don't have anyone I can drop NJ off with at a moment's notice, I struggle to make that work. So, while I wait for my one year old to turn six, what should I do? Do other moms struggle with this? It seems like all the other moms I know are very happy and content. Why do my teeth itch?

I keep tossing around the idea of becoming a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, but I worry that I wouldn't be able to keep up the $300 quarterly quota without pressuring friends to buy stuff they don't really want. I've tried finding another RE agent who needs some help with their paperwork (something I can do after NJ's gone to bed at night) but it's a painfully slow market and no one wants to pay anyone else anything. I volunteered to help out with computer stuff at church, but there's not much they need done that can be done from home. A friend offered to let me have a cut if I sold some of her stuff on ebay and I may go ahead with that, but I wonder if I'll struggle to make it to the post office in a timely manner to sell the sold stuff. My sister thinks I should sell some of my papercrafting on etsy and that may work on too, I guess we'll see. I've set up shop, so let me know what you think. Go to: www.arizonamade.etsy.com Maybe I'll come to love the post office ...

I'M CRAFTY!!!

I got my bachelor's in Environment Science in 2000 and got a cool in-house-consultant type job in Michigan right out of school. In 2002 I got accepted to a master's program with my company in conjunction with EMU and started working on my MBA. In the middle of my MBA I changed from the environmental department to the compensation department. It was a crazy change, but my boss was an amazing teacher and I love how different it was. But still, it was all very left brained. So, after a long day of Excel and Access I found I really enjoyed some brightly colored paper and a pair of good scissors, or even a nice piece of fabric and a sewing machine. But I was not a crafty person (I'd say to myself).

After I graduated my husband got a job transfer and we moved to Yuma, Arizona in 2006. I telecommuted but soon grew tired of sitting at home alone all day. I had been dreaming of doing something entrepreneurial for 4 years and I had been doing research for about a year trying to determine what the best venture would be. I ended up choosing to become a Real Estate Agent because I wanted to work with people, I didn't want to have to buy a franchise, and I really enjoyed the experience when we bought our own home. Real Estate is great! You have the softer sides of working with someone through a highly emotional experience, but there's also a lot of contracts and financial calculations to keep my left brain happy.

Then, I had a baby and just like they all said, he changed everything! I feel called to stay home with my son and I enjoy the growing relationship we share. However, I find it difficult now to do much with my real estate work. I try to keep a listing or two, but mostly I just help out friends when they need to buy or sell their home. I miss my real estate work, but I regularly remind myself that I've got the rest of my life to work- he's only small for a few years and then the schools steal him away. So, as a stay-at-home mom, I find my strange schedule is actually very conducive to all those crafts I've been secretly doing for all these years.

Why secret? I didn't like to talk about them too much because I thought that most people would view me as less credible in the business world, it they knew I was "crafty." Is that true? Tell me, when you think about your friends, do you generally consider your crafty friends to be less business minded? Would you want your crafty friend to be the one handling your finances? Would you expect that a CPA could make a beautiful scrapbook?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I’ve recently decided that I’m being very silly. I’ve decided that the traits that made me excel in Corporate America are the same traits that make me “crafty:” I like to try new things. I focus on continuous learning. When I fail, I try, try again. I truly believe that anything you set your mind to, you can do (not perfectly, of course, but then, what’s the cost/benefit justification for perfection?). So, I will now, from this day forward, admit to being crafty. There, I’ve said it, “I’M CRAFTY!”

Now that we have that out of the way, I’m going to try to post my projects on a separate blog, so as to not interfere with the delicate flow of the literature you find here. (I’m being funny, so you should laugh here.) Check it out and comment if you like it.

Baby Sweet Pea

If we are what we eat then my baby's a pea. Tonight he ate almost 8 ounces of peas! Maybe he was making up for lost veggies at Granny's- from what I hear he didn't want to eat any veggies at Granny's house, and, of course, he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to do!!! ;)

The Lion Sleeps

In the Jungle, the mighty Jungle, the Lion sleeps tonight... Is it a permanent solution to our taggie troubles???? I'll let you know

Hair, Through the Years

I'm one of those people who loves change. In fact, I have to change my hair at least once every six months. It's been long, it's been short. It's been light, it's been dark. Every time I go to my beautician I ask her to do something different- you know, I'm one of those people who CONSTANTLY changes their hair. You just never know what I'm going to look like next!!! LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA!

For some reason it occurred to me to document the crazy progression of hair in a blog (strange things occur to me when I'm trying to get to sleep). So, I set about to kill and hour scrounging up a few pics of me over the years. Besides the fact that it was incredibly difficult to find pictures where I didn't have all my hair back in a pony tail, I noticed the strangest thing: my hair has changed very little! Sure, there was a year or so of short hair, but I always seem to come back to the same old look... *sigh* Man! What if I'm not spontaneous either!?!?!


Oh wait, that middle one is actually my mom on her wedding day... hey, maybe it's genetic...

Taggie Troubles

I've got problems. Well, ok, NJ has problems. Really, the little guy just has one major problem: He's thrown taggie overboard, yet again, and now having to suffer through a nap, kicking and screaming just to let me know how he feels. Honestly, I am really stumped on what to do.

Let me back up: NJ's never been a fan of the pacifier- he's gone the thumb sucking route instead. A friend of ours gave us this wonderful little supper soft thing with tags all around that we loving refer to as Taggie. Taggie quickly became a sleep prop and now NJ's totally attached. As soon as he gets taggie in his hand, the thumb goes in the mouth and ah, that feeling of total peace washes over him. In fact, I even made three more just like it so we could always have one handy.

But lately, he's been throwing it out of his crib- I don't mean it accidentally slips through the crib rails, I mean it's laying on the other side of the room. Then NJ starts screaming, I go in to check on him, he points to taggie, I hand it back, lay him down, and walk quietly out of the room only to have the process start over a few minutes later.

So, a few weeks ago, I told him, "Hold on to taggie really tight because if you loose him or throw him, he's gone for the rest of the nap and you won't have him until the next sleeping time." Of course he threw it and we had to endure an hour of him crying with me checking on him every 10-15 minutes to try to console him and calm him. It was especially hard because I never really know what he understands. But, the next nap time, WA-LA, he kept taggie with him!

Then the next day, his dad laid him down for the nap. Either NJ was testing dad, or testing the lack of a warning, but he threw taggie and we endured another hour of crying and checking. Then we had a few glorious days without any taggie throwing. I thought, "Wow, it worked- how smooth was that?"

But then came Christmas and grandparents and cousins and now we've regressed. Some naps he'll do ok, some, not so much. I've tried giving him once chance, but that didn't seem to help. In fact, I think the lack of consistency just made the problem worse.

What do I do? Do I take it away completely? He's only 16 months old! That seems so soon to take it away! Plus, if I take it away it'll probably just push him to be more reliant on his thumb, right? -and I can't just take his thumb away! Then there's also the fact that the taggie is good in so many circumstances- like when he's in the car and we want him to sleep or when a babysitter is taking care of him... But right now, it's just causing problems... ACK! ARG! UG! What do I do???

"...as working (out) for the Lord..."

I've always had to drag myself off the exercise. It was a necessary torture treatment. But recently, in the spirit of experimentation, I started exercising for the Lord. I don't mean that I've decided it's part of God's law that I must work out three times a week for 30 minutes. I mean that when I go work out, I treat it as a form of worship! It felt like a crazy hair-brained idea when I started, but something magical happened: I started to really love working out! I mean, I really enjoy it! It became the best part of my day! Now, when I do aerobics, I imagine David, the man after God's own heart, dancing before the Lord in II Sam 6. When I feel a little silly doing some routine, I remind myself of David's response to his wife, who thought he was making a fool of himself, “I will become even more undignified than this.” When my body gets tired and wants to quit, I recite I Cor 9:27, “I beat my body and make it my slave.”

I suppose it shouldn't surprise me so much, but when I exercise to the Lord as a form of worship, it's so much more fun, so much easier than when I do it all on my own. The pain is still there, but it's easier to take if I'm working for the Lord.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him… Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:17,23)

The Tower of Babel

So I'm trying to read through the Bible in one year with our paster, Sam, and several other members of our church. Sam's got a little blog where he writes a bit about that day's reading and then we can all go post questions and thoughts. I think it's fabulous! It's like an online book club! You should join us!

Today in our reading was the story of the tower of babel and although I've hear the story a thousand times, it was just today that I finally got it. I never really understood why God was so against them building the tower, but now, it all makes sense!

God wanted the people to spread out, multiply, and worship him, but instead they tried to build a tall tower- a way to reach the heavens and "make a name for themselves." With their numbers, they would have succeeded in reaching way up high, but of course they would never be like God. Still, with the great human weakness of pride, the people would think they were like God. They would focus on how much they could do and what they could accomplish, instead of seeing that they were actually small, sinful, and in need of God.

I think God loved humanity too much to let them waste their existence accomplishing things. Sure, there's nothing inherently wrong with working and accomplishing, but when done out of pride, it consumes us. We were not made to accomplish things. We were made to worship God. Our work needs to be a form of worshiping God, not a reason for others to admire (worship) us! When God stirred up humanity’s language, he reminded them who was God and hopefully helped them to see that they needed to worship God, not try to become god.

This all really hits home to me. I had a long struggle with my own need to accomplish, achieve, and produce results before it finally sunk in that God wants a relationship, not performance.

The Shack

I recently read The Shack by Wm. Paul Young.

I really liked the book. I know there's been some controversy, but I think people are just being too literal. It's fiction, people! Get over it! The book brought about some new ideas in my head and he articulated something in ways I've never heard articulated. Some of the pictures he painted have really made me think and have given me new insight. I think most of the people who have objections are spending too much time trying to define God rather than trying to discover God. No matter how smart you are or how many time your read the bible or how great a scholar you are, you'll never be able to define God! He won't fit into any box! We'll never fully understand who and what God is- in some ways, that's what's so great about him!

Christmas 2008

This year for Christmas all the family came to my house: My mom and dad, My sister and her husband and two sons, and my sister's three in-laws! Unfortunately, B's mom and sister couldn't make it, but I suppose it worked out, because this way no one had to sleep in the common areas. Of course, mom and dad got suck out in the camper, but then it sounded like they had to fight to keep their spot from some of the folk sleeping in the house, so maybe it wasn't so bad after all. So, even though 9 adults and 3 kids in one house sounds like the set of a Will Ferrell Christmas Special, it was smooth and delightful. Everyone pitched in and helped out and we even managed to find enough chairs to all sit down to one big meal each day!

On Christmas day, NJ had a fabulous time opening gifts and otherwise tried to monopolize his Granny whenever possible. The Men fried a turkey, the women made everything else, and we all, plus a few extras, sat down to a beautiful Christmas feast!

A few days later, a few of us took the kids to the West Wetlands park. If you've never been there, let me tell you, it's crazy cool! The park is a giant castle with rubber floors. We all had such a great time! NJ got to slide, which he LOVED so much he dove in on his belly one time, and I even got to be a little silly (I'm refering to my climbing, not my coat- it really was quite chilly!)


But then, my little baby boy tripped on some faux decking and busted his lip!

Daddy swooped, Mommy ran to get tissue (wondering if all the blood was going to stain his adorable cream coat), and Aunt D took photos. What a heart breaker photo! Look at my little man! He was so brave and tough...

...and really, quite happy to play a few minutes later! Isn't strange how, as a mom, your child's pain hurts you far longer than it does them?